The Mafia's Woman

Chapter 5

-Camilla-

I wake up to the light in the bedroom. We didn't close the curtains last night and I blush when I see the prints of my hands and later my ass against the glass. I turn around and my whole body is sore. I do my best to moan softly when I feel the pain when I move my legs.

I think it's safe to say that I've never had as many orgasms in a night as this night and I've never been so hungry for a man like this.

I turn to him and bite my lip again. He lies on his stomach and the sheet is over his ass. His back is full of tattoos, there is no empty spot anymore. His arms are also full of pictures. His arms are big and muscular and I automatically think of the times he carried me last night, over his shoulder, in his arms. In the bathroom against the wall, here in the room against the glass. I gently slip out of bed. I don't want to wake him up.

I look for my bag and find it near the door. I look at my phone and see that it's almost eight o'clock. Milly has let us know that she is with Stefano in our hotel room. I hear rumblings of the sheets, but when I look up I see him in a different position. I walk to the bathroom and see my wild s*x hair. With a little water I smooth it out and I use my fingers as a comb. The bathroom floor is full of our towels that are wet, from our times in the shower last night.

Then I hunt for my dress and my bra. My thong was killed last night when he pulled it off me. I'm not even going to do my best to look for it anymore. I clean up the condom wrappers, which I find, and when I have my dress and my shoes I look at the bed again.

The man lying in it. My heart feels heavy, my stomach does that flipping thing.

I walk over to him, the carpeting dampens my heels. I lean forward and kiss his cheek. Maybe in the hope that he wakes up, that he wants my number, that we will see each other again. No idea why. But he doesn't respond. I walk to the door and turn around again

"Bye Marcello."

I close the door behind me.

I order an uber to my own hotel and I receive a message from Milly that Stefano is gone. I walk into the lobby and I see Stefano coming out of the elevator. He sees me and he smirks at me. "Good morning." He laughs. I smile back at him kindly. "Good morning."

Shaking my head, I walk to the elevator and when I'm with Milly I crawl into bed.

I walk into the office a few hours later. Milly and I have our bags with us. We had to check out. I want to see the pictures of the body again and take some pictures and add them to the files I have so that I can study them on the plane. Milly waits and I walk through with my pass in one go.

"ah Mrs. Matthews." A male cop walks up to me. He holds out his hand and I shake it.

"Detective Morris." He introduces himself. "Norman Morris."

I nod to the man.

"I have the documents here for you." He answers and I follow the man into the room. I take the pictures with my Ipad.

"Any new clues?" I ask, and the man shakes his head.

"Everything has been sent to the head office. The body is downstairs and is being examined further." I thank the man and continue my way with Milly to the airport.

"Oh that's terrible." Milly leans against me and looks at the pictures of the body.

"Do you think so?" I ask and I see her big eyes.

"Don't you?" she asks. I shrug my shoulders.

"I think it's bad that someone had to come to his end like that, but the wounds show that the person has not experienced it anymore. He was dead before he was cut." I tell her.

"I don't understand how you can do this." She sighs and continues reading her book.

I look at the pictures again. There is a whole work of art made on the man's chest. It's a message. Just like there was a message on my mother's hand, her hand, and her forearm. So far, no one has been able to decipher that message.

This is more graceful than what was cut into my mother. I look for my mother's photos and immediately see that there are no comparisons, but just to be on the safe side, I mail the new photos and my mother's to the lab to see if there are any similarities.

When I want to turn off the computer, I get a message that there is information about the message on the body from NY. I open the mail and read through the document.

In 'Galleria Degli Uffizi' there is a painting that depicts a scene in which men sit together at the table. The painting is called the traitor.

The man found in NY is a traitor and the link is Italy.

Drie weken later

I walk with my bag in my hand and I pull my suitcase behind me. Sold my house, sold my car. I have all the important stuff with me and Mister is with me. I look in the carrier and Mister meows. He is also done with it, even though the flight was only three hours. He has been in the basket for far too long. I follow the signs to the exit, where I can rent a car.

When I have done that, I fill in the address of the documents and drive away from the airport to the center of the town of Cliffs. The warm humid air hits me immediately when I'm outside. Very different climate than in Washington, but I like the temperature. I always thought I would seek out the sun and warmth.

It is a green environment, it has everything. It feels very small, compared to Washington it is also small, but it is fine for me and Mister. I stop in front of the complex and the navigation says we have reached it. It is a nice neighborhood. I see a square with restaurants, a supermarket, a bakery, a butcher, and a greengrocery. I see that there is a special parking space for the people of the complex, only at my house number is a car, covered. I put my car in a different place, where visitors are standing, and get out with Mister. With Mister in one hand, the papers and the keys in the other hand, I walk towards the building.

I try different keys and the third key let me go inside. In the hall, there are a number of benches, mailboxes, a staircase, and an elevator. There is also a board with which floor numbers are on. I have to go to the fourth floor. Only the fifth floor is above me and there are only four apartments. That's a bit different than what I had in Washington, where I lived fourteen high in a twenty-story complex. I step into the elevator to go up and I see the clean hall when I step out of the elevator. It all looks well-groomed. I stop for house number 44 and put the key in the door. The first one doesn't fit, the second one was from downstairs, so I'll skip that one now, the third key doesn't fit either, that's also too small a key for a front door.

The last key turns the lock and my heart starts beating harder in my chest. I push the door open further and warm musty air comes toward me. I step inside and see the perfect wooden floor, some scratches, but it looks clean. Dusty perhaps.

I walk down the hallway to a living room, there is the same floor, but with a sofa and two chairs, and there is a rug on the floor. The house is bright and spacious. The furniture is covered and there is some dust here and there, but otherwise, it looks well maintained. I put Mister down and he scratches against the door.

"No Mister, you can stay in it for a while until I know where everything is and it is clean," I answer to him. I walk to one of the windows next to a round dining table and with a little violence I can slide it open.

That immediately feels better. I open the other curtains and more comes in. I walk around the house. A small, but nice kitchen, two bathrooms, and two bedrooms. Everything in the house is neatly maintained and the amount of dust is not the amount you would expect after more than twenty years of vacancy.

"Knock knock! Hello?"

I turn around and walk over to the man who is calling.

"Hello?" I see a man standing with an average stature, balding head, tattoos. He's a bit older, I think in his early sixties.

"May I ask how you got here?" he asks.

"That you may, may I first know who you are?"

The man squeezes his eyes together and takes me all in. I put my hands in my side. "This was my mother's." I tell him. I don't make a good impression when I immediately draw my police cards, so I go for the vulnerable young woman. His eyes get bigger. "I have a key."

The man's mouth falls open and quickly closes again

"You are Lilly's daughter?" he asks. I nod.

"Lilly Matthews, that was my mother."

The man lowers his eyes.

"I thought Lilly and her daughter were both dead." He answers softly.

"Come we're going in." He steps closer to me, I let him in and he walks to the faucet to turn it on.

"I come here every week. I live in this building, I'm the concierge. I knew your mother well." He starts. I close the door and follow the man.

"She was a sweet and warm woman." He smiles. "my name is Kendrick." He looks at me and I see the hopeful look in his eyes. I turn around and walk to the couch, to remove the upholstery.

"Kendrick Barnes, but your mother always called me Ken Church."

At that name I almost trip over my feet and I grab myself at the table.

"Ken Church?" I ask, and I try to keep my trembling hands with me.